Aqua

The darkness seemed infinite; stretching beyond all visible boundaries. Infinite as in never ending; yet infinite as in something that never began, so can never end.


He sat perched precariously on his lonely throne; a microscopic blur silhouetted against the twin towering skyscrapers that housed the slumbering inhabitants of the hotel. All around was quiet; the abnormal peace that results when everyone finally surrenders to sleep, leaving the insomniac with a palliative to soothe his incessant mind. All alone at last.

He peered over the edge; inquisitive as to the panorama beneath.

Below, the cerulean water rippled invitingly; the tantalizing murmur a soothing backdrop against which played the symphony of his mind at various crescendos; a comforting foil to the inner turmoil that was omnipresent in his mind. Conflicting memories strove to gain supremacy; long lost memories resurfacing in the gloom; monochromatic postcards from vista’s long forgotten; uniformly black and melancholic.

A lost muse; half whispered secrets coming back to haunt him; mocking him with their lost intimacy; secret smiles; a mockery of love lost. Paradise found; only to be lost again. C’est la vie? Or is it just the random hand of Fate; the final derisive snort of a higher authority? His mind wandered; pondering the imponderable. An anachronism contemplating another. Perhaps that’s one too… the thought bringing an almost involuntary wry grin to his youthful face.

A sudden gust caressed his face; flitting thru his hair with the familiarity of an old friend; the cool refreshing breeze punched with the sharp salty tang of the sea; breaking the flimsy ties that bind together those memories.

Reminded of its proximity, he gazed out at the sea.

Inky blackness stared back; challenging the virulence of his gaze. A lone gull wheeled forlornly; it’s screeching creating a discordant background. The moon peeped out coyly from behind a puffy mass of snowy white down; struggling valiantly to replicate the success of her daytime counterpart; yet failing miserably.
The sea was illuminated in fragments; white breakers crashing against a uniform darkness as smooth as glass; chiaroscuro rearing its own multiple facets. The waves seemed relentless; battering the sea unremittingly. However the sea seemed oblivious; unconcerned almost.

Bored by a sea devoid of any form of human interest; he peered over the edge once again.

The water below presented a startling contrast to the sea just few meters away. Outside, lay an inky vastness; colossal in its dimensions; a gigantic Polaroid that had failed to develop properly; monochromatic in its coloration; pulsing with life; yet, seemingly without a soul.

However, twenty feet below lay an entirely different proposition.
Aquamarine crystal clear water reflected the harsh lights of the arc lights placed all around the pool; softening the bleak linear lines of the surrounding buildings. Empty except for a miasma of overturned deck chairs and unopened umbrellas. A desolate oasis in the midst of a desert. Free of its usual human detritus; it seemed to be beckoning him; its emptiness astoundingly similar to the blankness of his mind. A seductive temptress; beckoning one to destruction.

Led as if on impulse, he stood up.

Stretched.

And took to the heavens.



Only to come crashing down.